


i don't like nobody but you.

by legally_blonde



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-05-01 17:30:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19182472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legally_blonde/pseuds/legally_blonde
Summary: Welcome to Winterfell University's Scholarship Gala, where the student recipients of scholarships can mingle with the donors who fund them. - or, as Gendry likes it call it - hell.





	i don't like nobody but you.

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first thing i have written in a looooong time. please be constructively kind :)

            Gendry Waters started tugging nervously at his shirt collar and adjusting his tie as he looked around the room that was filled with people who were itching to sign a donation check that would later become a tax write-off. Everyone was dressed impeccably – it was a gala, after all. A gala designed to raise money for Winterfell University so poor students like himself could attend the most prestigious school in the Seven Kingdoms.

            Ned Stark, the provost of Winterfell, was standing with his wife, Catelyn, towards the front of the room. The Starks founded Winterfell University and have always been heavily involved in running the school. Gendry was lucky enough to have befriended Ned’s nephew, Jon Snow, at orientation. They both initially bonded over their bastard last names, until Ned came by to wish Jon good luck and Gendry realized they weren’t all that similar. When he went to leave, Jon had invited him to lunch to meet his cousins, and for once he felt that his name wouldn’t slam so many doors in his face here as it had his whole life.

            Gendry noticed an exit sign in the back corner that no one would notice him sneak out through. No one knows who he is, no one would care if he left to go to his garage and finish working on his car. He put his empty glass on the bar and was about to make a move until he saw Jon walking over with his cousin, Robb.

            “Are you hiding out at the bar all night?” Robb asked as he ordered a whiskey ginger. “Shouldn’t you be mingling and thanking all these lovely people for funding your education?”

            “I still can’t tell when you’re fucking with me or being serious,” Gendry grumbled as he ordered his third drink of the night.

            “He’s fucking with you,” Jon said, clapping Gendry on the back. “These galas are a nightmare.”

            “Tell me about it,” Robb complained. “They do raise a fuck ton amount of money for the school though. Talisa got roped into helping Mother plan this, which meant I got roped into planning this too.”

            “Thanks for funding my education,” Gendry said and raised his glass toward Robb. Jon snorted in laughter as Robb rolled his eyes.

            “What are the three of you plotting?” Sansa asked as she walked over with Arya and Theon.

            “Whatever it is, I want in,” Theon said, squeezing between Robb and Gendry to order himself a drink.

            Gendry stumbled to the left as Theon shoved him over. He barely noticed because couldn’t take his eyes off Arya. She looked breathtaking in her two-piece floral dress that he’s sure Sansa forced her in and threatened her to keep on. Her hair was down and wavy, skimming her bare shoulders as she turned her head to laugh at whatever conversation that was going on.

            “Waters!” he heard and saw a small hand snapping in his face. “Are you brain dead?”

            “No, just plotting my escape,” he said, grabbing Arya’s hand and pressing a kiss to her palm.

            “Oh, I’ve got blueprints of the place,” she said eagerly.

            “Arya,” Sansa warned. “Mother will have your head if you left now.”

            “Bran and Rickon weren’t forced to come,” Arya said, rolling her eyes at her sister’s dramatics. “I don’t see why I was forced to come.”

            “Rickon is still in high school and Bran is well,” Sansa paused, trying to figure out how to describe their younger brother. “Bran is Bran.”

            “Arya’s just annoyed that weird guy hit on her before,” Theon said with a laugh. Arya felt the arm Gendry had around her shoulders tighten. She rested her hand on his chest, relaxing him a little.

            “Who was it?” Robb asked, getting protective and going into big brother mode.

            “Jaqen H’ghar,” Sansa said when Arya wasn’t answering, just glaring at Theon and thinking about the different ways she could kill him.

            “It’s fine, he won’t bother me again,” Arya said simply.

            “Did you threaten to stab him again?” Jon asked and Arya nodded. Jon chuckled and shook his head at her. “He’s crazy, he’s probably into that.”

            “Well,” she shrugged.

            "Should I be concerned?" Gendry whispered in her ear, earning a fist to the ribs that made him laugh.

            "Stupid," she rolled her eyes. "I don't like nobody but you."

            “Why am I not surprised to find all of you here drinking,” Ned said with a laugh as he walked over with Robert Baratheon, his best friend and huge donor for Winterfell.

            “The bar is the best place to be,” Robert said loudly as he clapped Ned on the back. “Did you take in another kid, Ned?”

            “No,” he said, noticing Robert was looking at Gendry curiously. “This is Gendry Waters. He’s a senior here at Winterfell and I believe he enrolled in our master’s program?”

            “Yes, sir. For mechanical engineering,” he nodded.

            “Waters, hm,” Robert said thoughtfully. “Never met your father?”

            “Uh, no, sir,” Gendry said, clearing his throat out of awkwardness. “My mother died when I was young, so I was raised by an uncle.”

            “Davos Seaworth,” Ned said. Arya noticed something registered in Robert’s eyes the way they widened. She caught her father’s eye and gave him a questioning look, but he just gave her a sad smile and shook his head slightly. “I was sent here by your mother to have all of you join the dance floor before dinner and speeches start.”

            “I’m rather happy right here,” Arya said. Jon and Theon nodded in agreement.

            “She was ready to pull all of you over herself, I’m sure she’s still willing to do that,” Ned said with a laugh.

            “We should head over as well before Cat is dragging us too,” Robert laughed as well, although it wasn’t as boisterous sounding as it usually was.

            “I’m going to go find Podrick. I’m sure Professor Lannister is drunk and talking his ear off about wars and nonsense from years ago,” Sansa said with a sigh.

            Arya looked up at Gendry who still had this lost look on his face after the conversation with Mr. Baratheon and her father. She knew something was up, but she still couldn’t place her finger on it. Figuring she’d save that mystery for another day, she grabbed Gendry’s drink from his hand and downed the rest of it – slamming the empty glass on the bar.

            “Shall we dance,” she asked, grabbing his forearm and pulling him away from the bar to the dance floor.

            “Hell yeah,” he smirked, knowing Arya was only doing this because: one, she’s drunk, and two, she realized he was getting too much into his head after that weird encounter.

            He placed his hand on the small of her back and puller her closer as they slow danced to whatever song the band was playing. Arya grumbled one minute about being so short still even in the sky-high heels Sansa made her wear, and the next she was making faces at Jon from across the room as he tried to speak to Daenerys Targaryen. Gendry smiled to himself, thinking about how Arya always figured out some way to improve his mood. He never realized how happy he could be until he met her.

            “You know I love you, did I ever tell you,” he whispered in her hair as he pressed his lips against her forehead. “You make it better like that.”

            “I know,” she said with a smile.

            “I don’t think I fit in at this party, everyone’s got so much to say. I got cornered by Mr. Tyrell who kept talking about flowers and money. He didn’t stop speaking for ten minutes straight,” he said as he looked around the room again. “There’s a clear exit in the back right corner. We could make an escape.”

            “You really want to leave?” she asked.

            “I’m nobody,” he shrugged uncomfortably. He was there because Mr. Stark had asked him to come, and there was no way he’d tell him no. Gendry figured he asked so Arya had a weaker argument to not come tonight. Still, he didn’t fit in here, he didn’t belong. He wasn’t one of the brilliant students on scholarship who was going to do great things. He did enough to keep the money that was awarded to him and had no idea what he’d be doing in the future.

            “You’re Gendry Waters.”

            “Exactly, bastard-born amongst all these wealthy families,” he said. This was always a point of contention for the two of them. Arya would get furious every time he would tell her she deserved better than someone who never really knew his parents, never had a family, will never have a name. He wanted to give her the world, but his world was abysmal compared to hers.

            She stopped and looked up at him, her eye roll dramatic as always, as she reached up to kiss him – ending the conversation.

            “Who wants to fit in anyway?”

**Author's Note:**

> i may include a second part with sansa & pod, if anyone would be interested in that.


End file.
